The Plight of the Polar Bears

When I lived in Baltimore, I bought myself some incredibly comfortable pajama bottoms from Old Navy. They are navy blue with (obviously) polar bears on them. Some are solo, some are paired, some are on ice floes.

Over the past 6 years or so, they've become my "go-to" pajama bottoms, and although I've had other pajamas since I got them, they've always been my favorites. They've gone on vacations with me. They've been worn out to get the newspaper. They've kept me warm when I was sick and/or unemployed.

Once upon a time in Baltimore, a friend of mine (who, as usual, shall remain nameless because I haven't asked her if I can name her) and I had a movie night for which we decided to be comfortable. So she brought her own pj's and we found out that we had matching polar bear pj's. It was a surprise, and kind of fun, to find that we matched.

When she came to visit me out here in Minnesota, she brought along her polar bears, and we bought Christopher a pair of penguin pajamas so that he could coordinate with us. We had a polar pajama party, of sorts, although not all from the same pole. And, well, we never actually all slept over together. (This was before Christopher and I were in the same house.)

I went to put on those pajama bottoms last night, and - as I was pulling them up - I felt something just below the waistband. I looked down and noticed that the area where I had my hand (and which is where I basically had been pulling up my pj's every time I put them on), had worn down to threadbare. There was even the start of a hole there.

My polar bears may be on their way out. Which makes me sad.

*****

Okay. I know that my pajamas aren't all that important in the grand scheme of what is happening to the real polar bears who are losing habitat and numbers incredibly rapidly. If you'd like to help out the polar bears (the real ones, not my pajamas), you can look into helping them at the World Wildlife Fund website.